Herb library · Herb · Cymbopogon citratus
Lemongrass (fever grass)
A tall, lemon-scented grass brewed as a bush tea, called fevergrass in Trinidad, where it is drunk for fevers. The one careful trial found it did not help sleep or anxiety, and a study of heavy daily use raised a question about the kidneys.
Traditional use
In Trinidad fevergrass was the plant most often named for fever in a national survey: the leaves and roots are boiled into a tea, and it is also taken for colds and as a "cooling" drink. In Brazil the same tea is a popular calming remedy.
Traditional energetics
Caribbean folk tradition
Counted as cooling. Hortus Jamaicensis (1814), vol. 1, p. 442 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Insufficient
Sleep and anxiety: in a 1986 double-blind study, lemongrass tea did no better than placebo for falling asleep, sleep quality or anxiety in 50 and 18 volunteers. The authors concluded it lacks calming effects.
- Insufficient
Fever: this is its main traditional use in the Caribbean, but no trial in people was found in the sources reviewed here.
Be careful of
Cautions
- AmountIn a 2015 study of 105 young adults, a daily infusion made from 2 to 8 g of leaf powder for 30 days lowered measures of kidney filtration, more with higher doses and longer use. Keep amounts moderate and do not drink it heavily for weeks.
- ConditionPeople with kidney disease should ask their clinician before drinking it regularly.
- NoteTwo weeks of daily lemongrass tea produced no harmful changes in blood tests, heart tracings or urine in healthy volunteers in the 1986 study.
- PregnancyNo safety information for pregnancy or breastfeeding was found in the sources used here. Talk with your clinician first.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“These leaves have a very agreeable lemon-like smell, and the decoction of them, as well as of the root, is a very pleasant and cooling drink in fevers”
“This plant, which was introduced about fifteen years ago, has been pretty generally cultivated, and has thriven well, in most parts of Jamaica, but has never been observed to produce any flowers or seed”
In scripture
Where the Bible names this plant, and which plant scholars think is meant.
To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”
The "sweet cane" was a fragrant reed brought from far away. Balfour (1885) took it to be an aromatic Indian grass and notes that some thought it the lemon-grass (Andropogon schoenanthus, a close relative of the lemongrass on this page); it is one candidate among several. John Hutton Balfour, The Plants of the Bible (1885), pp. 137–138 (opens in a new tab)
“Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;
The "fragrant cane" of the anointing oil: in Balfour's account (1885) an aromatic Indian grass, possibly a lemon-grass relative of the plant on this page. Not settled. John Hutton Balfour, The Plants of the Bible (1885), pp. 137–138 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
- Pharmacology of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf). III. Assessment of eventual toxic, hypnotic and anxiolytic effects on humans (J Ethnopharmacol, 1986) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Effect of lemongrass tea consumption on estimated glomerular filtration rate and creatinine clearance rate (J Ren Nutr, 2015) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants in Trinidad (J Ethnobiol Ethnomed, 2015) — full text on PubMed Central (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.